Digital Wilderness

Vote now: What’s Your Favorite Classic Holiday Cartoon?

I’ve been doing a little tweaking of the website, adding and changing things here and there. First, you’ll notice a search box on the right side. This will allow you to search my posts for keywords, something that I’ve really needed at times, and I hope will make the site easier for you to use as well.

Also, you’ll notice I added a link to the menu at the top for Polls. All polls I do will be on this page, so if you ever want to go back and check the results of one, you no longer need to search for a post about a poll. I’ve also changed the way that the poll results are displayed. They will now show in a pop-up window, which should make navigation on that page easier (you won’t lose your place).

In case you haven’t noticed yet, I added a section on the right side for UK Basketball. Games, their record, and rankings will all be tracked here. Hopefully, I’ll be able to put up a big National Championship banner on the website come April

I’ve also added a couple more pictures of my cat and my Halloween party. I added new albums for Bill and Andrea’s Halloween party and put up some pictures of me and my family. Because several people have asked for it, I’ll add more pictures of Smokey later, but all the other ones I had are on my corrupted memory card. I’m need to take some more…

Since I was already working on the site, I went on and added this week’s Top 5 List a day early.

That’s it for now. Enjoy the new stuff!

P.S. Oh, by the way, my bio is now up It’s actually been up for a couple days now, but I guess everyone gave up checking for it…

Wow! A six-minute trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Extended Edition has been released and it gave me goosebumps watching it. The trailer is basically snippets of the deleted scenes, as well as some commentary from the actors, director, and other crew. Once again, the 50 minutes of deleted scenes are going to add quite a bit to the movie. Can’t wait to watch it! It comes to DVD on Dec 14th.

This information is from kottke.org.

As I mentioned earlier, long time Jeopardy champ was rumored to have lost in his 75th show. Well, that show is scheduled to air Nov 30 (tomorrow).

Here’s the Final Jeopardy category and clue, close but not exactly the same as was previously rumored.

Category: Business and Industry

Answer: Most of this firm’s 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only 4 months a year.

And the question was….

What is H&R Block?

Contestant Nancy Zerg answered correctly and ended up with $14,401, one dollar more than Ken. Ken answered incorrectly “What is FedEx?” and ended up with $8,799.

You can listen to an

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

courtesy kottke.org

[UPDATE: kottke.org has been contacted by a lawyer representing Sony and they asked him to remove the audio clip...]

Most of you are probably familiar with Google.com. It’s my search engine of choice. You could say it has a cult following, too, as there have been many hacks, games, and books written about it. Here’s a “game” that sounds interesting, called Googlewhacking. Basically, it involves coming up with two words, not quoted, that return only one result on Google. There are additional rules, such as each word has to appear on dictionary.com, so be sure to check out the site.

I’m still looking for a Googlewhack… I got close with two – “ubiquitous sphallolalia” and “pandiculating reflex,” but sphallolalia and pandiculating weren’t on dictionary.com

Can you find one? If you think you have one, be sure to check and post it. Obviously, the combination doesn’t, and probably won’t, make sense

[UPDATE: Got one! I can't post it here, because if I do, then google will have two results listed For right now, I'm at the top of the list for most recent googlewhacks. I'll put a screenshot up here in a bit.]

I spent most of yesterday putting up my Christmas decorations. I knew if I didn’t do them the day after Thanksgiving, I would wait too long (like I did last year) and not get the full enjoyment out of them. I keep things pretty basic, with mainly simple white lights and not a lot of lawn ornaments. I put lights on a few more bushes and tress this year, though. I’m gonna borrow some icicle lights from my grandparents, too.

As for the inside, I have a small 2-foot tree and a 4-foot tree. I think I’m gonna have to invest in a big one, though. These small ones aren’t quite the same as a nice big one. I would like a live tree. I love the smell and they add to the atmosphere, even though they’re messier and are more work to put up and take down. One day, when it’s not just me, I think I’ll go that route again. I gotta be careful, though, as the ornaments and lights are very tempting to Smokey. He likes batting them around and knocking them off. I woke up this morning and my small 2-foot tree had been knocked over. Silly kitty! I few squirts of water and compressed air should cure him of this, though.

Vote now: So, which do you prefer, artificial or real Christmas trees?

Wow, thought this was really interesting.

From boingboing.net

[There was an] interview on Minnesota Public Radio with a Milwaukee, WI doctor who saved the life of a girl who had contracted rabies from a bat. The disease is known as having a 100% fatality rate if you do not receive a vaccine before symptoms show, but the girl’s doctor didn’t accept that and developed an entirely new way to treat the disease. Apparently, rabies causes the brain to attack the body, and that is what causes death. By putting the girl into a coma he managed to stop the brain from being able to do any damage while the girl’s immune system defeated the virus. This is a reminder that sometimes the impossible is possible if you don’t listen to those who tell you otherwise.

You can read more about this at CNN.com, NPR, BBC and the NY Times.

I wish everyone the best this Thanksgiving holiday. Travel safely and enjoy the time with family and friends. Remember what the holiday is for, giving thanks, not food and football. Give thanks and celebrate the blessings that you’ve been given.

It’s official. Kentucky’s new brand…drum roll please… is:

From kentucky.gov:

“After months of research and more than 50,000 votes, the people of Kentucky have chosen a new state Brand.

Kentucky is a place where spirits are free to soar and big dreams can be fulfilled. We relish competition and cherish our champions for their willingness to push beyond conventional boundaries to reach new heights of success.”

For those of you who use the “Most Recent Comments” and “Leave a Comment” links, they’ve been moved as I try to condense the right side menu some. The “Most Recent Comments” link is now under the Stats section on the right side. The “Leave a Comment” (aka, general comments) link has been removed from the right side and is now on the “Contact Me” page.